The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Times says developers may be given the opportunity to pay Mepa fees by instalment. It also says that a Nigerian migrant who died in 2011 is still in the hospital morgue.
The Malta Independent reports that the children's commissioner has welcomed a decision to facilitate child support payments from outside the EU.
In-Nazzjon says the eyes of the world were on the world as a search continued for the second Marathon bombing suspect.
l-orizzont says the GWU wants action against a company which employed workers in precarious work. It also says that just before the elections, officials in ministerial secretariats were given jobs in the public service so they could keep their high salaries.
The overseas press
NBC News reports residents who had been holed up in their homes and law enforcement officials who had been engaged in a day-long manhunt for the at-large suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing let out a cheers after it was confirmed that 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev had been captured and taken into custody.
After the news of the arrest, CNN quoted President Obama saying, “We've closed an important chapter in this tragedy.” He praised the outcome but said many questions – including a motive for the bombings and whether the brothers had help – remained. A White House spokesman confirmed Tsarnaev would be questioned by a federal team called the “High Value Detainee Interrogation Group”, which includes officials of the FBI, CIA, and Defense Department.
Xinhua news agency says hundreds of people have been killed or injured when a strong earthquake struck China's southwestern Sichuan province – five years after a massive quake devastated the region. First reports say some 100 people died or were injured in the shallow quake that struck just after 2.00 am (Malta time), sending panicked residents fleeing into the streets, some of them still in their pyjamas. It was followed by several aftershocks. In 2008 the province saw one of the country's worst earthquakes in decades, with 87,000 people missing or dead.
Fox News reports the number of people killed in an explosion at a US fertiliser plant has risen to 14, after officials recovered two more bodies. Two hundred other people were reportedly hurt in the blast in the state of Texas. Some 60 people are thought to still be missing. The blast destroyed dozens of buildings in the town of West, near Waco.
According to Ansa, the leader of Italy's centre-left alliance, Pier Luigi Bersani, has promised to step down once parliament elects a new president. He announced the news to his Democratic Party (PD) after many centre-left MPs twice refused to back his preferred candidate for president. Two-time centre-left premier Romano Prodi failed to be elected in the fourth ballot after the PD decided to endorse him earlier in the day.
Times of India reports a five-year-old Indian girl is in critical condition after being kidnapped and brutally raped over two days by a 22-year-old neighbour in New Delhi. Her condition was described as “critical” and “objects were removed from her body”. The injuries on the girl's body suggested that the rapist tried to strangle her and left her to die after what has been described as a “barbaric sexual assault”. There were protests in front of the hospital and assistant police commissioner has been suspended for slapping a female protester and five other policeman have been sacked for offering money to the girl’s parents to keep their mouth shut over the incident.
Al Ahram says 39 protesters have been injured in clashes between pro-and anti Islamic demonstrations called by the party of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafist Movement to ask the'' purification'' of the Egyptian judiciary. According to sources in the emergency services, 10 people have been hospitalised, four with bullets wounds.
Globovision reports Nicolas Maduro has been sworn in as Venezuelan president, succeeding the late Hugo Chavez who died of cancer in March after ruling for 14 years. During his speech, a man grabbed the microphone and was dragged away, after which Maduro criticised security saying he could have been shot. Thousands gathered on the streets of Caracas to show their support for Maduro and to celebrate independence. Maduro was elected president ahead of opposition leader Henrique Capriles by 1.5 per cent of the vote. Opposition supporters protested against Maduro's inauguration by banging on pots and pans, and playing salsa music.
NineNews reports shows starring Rolf Harris have been pulled from British television after the Australian was named as the entertainer arrested by police investigating the Jimmy Savile sex abuse scandal. Channel 5 in the UK has suspended Animal Clinic and children's animation show Olive The Ostrich, which Harris narrates. Nickelodeon has also dropped Olive the Ostrich. Top-selling tabloid The Sun on Friday reported 83-year-old Harris was arrested last month by officers from Operation Yewtree, saying “Harris vehemently denies any wrongdoing”. Today’s Daily Mirror states Harris's arrest “is thought to relate to one woman who spoke to police in the wake of the Savile scandal”. Twelve people have been arrested to date as part of Operation Yewtree, which was established after a TV documentary aired allegations that former BBC disc jockey Savile, who died in 2011 aged 84, sexually abused countless children.